Massachusetts writer's first screenplay made into movie

"Dedication," written by Lexington native David Bromberg, opened last week.

Ian B. Murphy

Just writing a screenplay that makes it to the silver screen is tough enough. Lexington High School graduate David Bromberg discovered that pleasing national film critics is even tougher.

Bromberg, 40, wrote the film “Dedication,” which opened last weekend and stars Billy Crudup and Mandy Moore. It was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival, which is an accomplishment in itself, and got good reviews there.

Upon national distribution, however, many film critics, including Wesley Morris of the Boston Globe, panned the film.

After his success at Sundance, Bromberg said he was still adjusting to having his work whacked around by so many critics.

“I’m like everyone else. When I see a bad review it really kind of gets to me,” said Bromberg. “I know people say not to read the reviews, but it’s kind of hard not to. It does get to me, and I guess I’m going to have to grow a thicker skin for the next project.”

Some of that criticism hurt because of the personal writing his film included. He wrote “Dedication” after the death of his best friend, Jonathan Kaplan, and he attributes many of the themes in the film to what he was going through at the time.

“I don’t think I realized how many elements there were from my life there were in the screenplay until after I was done and I looked back on it,” he said.

Bromberg said that actor-turned-first-time-director Justin Theroux did a great job recruiting the cast for the film, and was faithful to the tone and feel of the script, but made a movie that was slightly different from what Bromberg created.

“There was a great cast in the movie, and I give Justin all the credit for that,” said Bromberg. “I like the look and tone of the movie. I wasn’t quite the movie I wrote, but I think that’s typical of Hollywood movies in general. Not everything in the movie is the product of the screenwriter, so sometimes I get criticized for things I didn’t even write.”

Bromberg said that his insatiable nature is just part of who he is.

“I’m a real glass is half-full, but it’s full of poison, kind of guy,” he said, showing what one of his teachers once called “acerbic wit.” “So I’m never going to be that happy with anything.”

One person who is quite happy with the work he has done is his mother, Carol Bromberg of Lexington. She has been following his writing career his whole life, and said he began writing poetry at age 9.

“The writing is a gift: it just flows,” she said.

Carol and her husband, George, went to Park City, Utah to the Sundance Film Festival to see “Dedication.” They sat in the front row, and when the movie was over, she said the 1,200-seat theater erupted in applause for Bromberg’s film.

With so much adulation in Utah, Carol was not prepared for what she read last week.

“When I opened the Globe, I read [the review] three times,” she said. “I had to laugh because I said, ‘I can’t believe this is this person’s spin on it.’ I was hurt for my son reading it, but he handled it so well.”

Carol said she took same approach that allowed her son to turn a tragic event, Kaplan’s death, into a romantic comedy for thousands to see.

“You have a choice in life,” she said. “When something bad happens you can either cry it off, or lighten it up.”